In Arizona, many homeowners have problems with critters, pests, and all sorts of unwanted visitors. Under the searing heat of the sun, it’s natural to struggle with this problem. Don’t worry, here’s some advice to protect your Arizona roof!
Consider the Roofing Material
Firstly, choose the right material, and you’ll instantly make your life easier. For example, clay/concrete is not as hospitable to rodents, bugs, and other critters. For those who have green and wooden roofs, you’ll know the problems that come with choosing the wrong material. If you’re to choose these two options, you’ll need a pest/critter control system. Otherwise, tiles are a fantastic option because it doesn’t attract critters at the same rate as others.
Perform Maintenance
You look after the inside of your home, and now it’s time to extend this care to the outside. At the base of roofing material, there’s a layer called roof sheathing. Unfortunately, this is a common entry point for animals. Also, you might notice activity around the vents, gutters, and chimney. With some simple maintenance, you make your roof unattractive to critters.
Elsewhere, raccoons are known to pull at the intersections between the roof and soffits. As a softer material, soffits cause homeowners lots of problems every year. Therefore, you’ll need to pay close attention to the condition of the soffits. If necessary, get them repaired or replaced, and you’ll keep critters away.
As well as keeping critters at bay, roof maintenance keeps the home protected against leaks and other potential problems.
Keep Roof Rats Away
First and foremost, you need to know how to identify AZ roof rats and the signs they leave behind. There’s a huge problem with roof rats in Arizona at the moment, and this may be what you had in mind when searching for this article. After finding a weak spot on the roof, roof rats find dark areas around the property, whether this is in the attic, cabinets, walls, or a false ceiling. While many rats hide for extensive periods of the day, roof rats spend around 10% of their time underground – the rest is above ground (lucky us!).
Although not unique to this part of the world, Arizona did experience an outbreak around 20 years ago, and it has remained an issue ever since. To keep them away from your home, trim all your trees back and limit the entry points that rats have to infiltrate. Also, remove trash from your home frequently, don’t keep large stashes of wood near the property, and maintain your roof.
Call a Professional Service
Whether roof rats, raccoons, or squirrels, it’s important that you handle the situation carefully. While some critters want to live in your home, it’s possible that others just stumbled across your roof/attic and would rather be elsewhere. Keep all pets and children away (because critters will bite), open windows, and contact a professional service.
Another reason that you should call a professional is that they’ll give you further advice on how to keep your home and roof free from critters. As well as roofing materials, they’ll discuss potential traps/deterrents, maintenance ideas, and other strategies. There are all sorts of critters in Arizona, and you’ll need a tailored approach based on the most common critters in your area.
Make the Roof Unattractive
Critters typically have one goal – to find a comfortable home. If your home is overgrown, you leave trash everywhere each week, and there are lots of gaps in the roof; this is a haven for most critters. Ultimately, the best critter control solution is to make the roof as unattractive as possible.